Child porn case stalls

BUCYRUS - Judge Sean Leuthold, who's been sitting on the bench of the Crawford County Common Pleas Court for almost exactly a year, prides himself on moving cases along.

But the wheels of justice sometimes move slowly, no matter what the judge may want to see happen. A case in point bogged down in his courtroom on Wednesday.

Marcus Williams, 35, of the 600 block of East Church Street in Galion, faces several charges in a child porn case. Specifically, he is accused of importuning, or soliciting an underage person for sexual conduct, a fourth-degree felony; disseminating material harmful to a juvenile, a fifth-degree felony; pandering sexually oriented materials involving a minor, a fourth-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a computer and cell phone, a felony of the fifth degree.

The pandering charge has 80 counts attached, relating to images allegedly on Williams' computer of children performing sexual acts.

Williams appeared in court Wednesday, ostensibly for a change-of-plea hearing, but that's not what took place.

"This case was before the court in January for an in-camera review. It appeared at that time that we had an agreement. That no longer appears to be the case," Judge Leuthold said as he prepared to discuss a motion from Williams' attorney, Rolf Whitney, to suppress evidence.

Whitney said the serial number on the computer identified in an investigation by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation does not match that written on the search warrant that was executed upon Williams' arrest last September.

"Obviously the court is disappointed. It likes to move the docket along quickly and in this case that's not happening," Leuthold said. He questioned whether the search warrant was required to specify a hard drive, but allowed Whitney's motion to suppress to proceed.

"I will require great specificity. We're not going to piecemeal this thing," the judge told Whitney. "I will set a prompt trial date. I want this case done within the next couple of months."

Williams, who is being held in the Crawford County jail on $2 million bail, told Leuthold that he had "never once acted on any of the fantasies I've had" during a court appearance in September.

"Having been a victim of this kind of abuse, I really want to turn myself around. I need help to get better, this is not who I want to be. I'm just as disgusted by this as anyone," he said.

Williams' house was searched by BCI and the FBI after he corresponded with a law enforcement officer posing as a 14-year-old girl. The county prosecutor's office said Williams later confessed to the charges leveled against him.

In 2011, Williams was charged with importuning and dissemination in Jackson County, but was only convicted on the dissemination charge, so he is not a registered sex offender in Ohio. State investigators don't believe any local juveniles were involved with Williams' alleged crimes in Crawford County.

Also Wednesday, Samantha R. Sadowski, 20, of Bucyrus, appeared before the court to admit to two probation violations. After she pleaded guilty last summer to one count of drug possession, a fifth-degree felony, Judge Leuthold enrolled her in the court's intensive supervision and treatment program.

"Quite frankly, we've been having trouble with her for the past six weeks. I like her, she's a nice person, but this last incident I can't overlook," he said.

"I've no choice but to impose a prison sentence of eight months. This gives me no pleasure at all."

At that point Sadowski broke down and cried, and thanked the judge for offering her the option of the treatment program. She said she had been drug-free under it for 10 months.

"I really appreciate it, I do," she said.

"This breaks my heart, but at least you have the right attitude," Leuthold said.